Backyard wildlife: we got lots around here. This is an honest-to-goodness Gila Monster my husband spotted lumbering around in the dirt — not in our backyard, but just behind it. Gila Monsters move very slowly, and have a venomous bite. So even if you’re tempted, don’t touch. Besides, he just looks ornery.

As opposed to this baby Javelina — who will destroy you with his cuteness. As piglets, they are soo adorable. As adults, they’re mean and stinky (really, they have an odor like fermented rotten fish). If you’re going to poke it with a stick, make sure there’s a solid wall separating the two of you. This critter was also snapped in the area just behind our backyard.

Unlike this unlucky pack rat. Snapped in a no-kill trap. Love the way our rat terriers (terrors, to rodents) focused on it. Just when you think you have a couple of spoiled baby dogs, nature and instinct kick in. Fierce, and amazing.

Apropos of nothing, here’s a pic of my son from several years ago. We were in Phoenix, having lunch at Cooperstown (yes, Alice Cooper’s restaurant — love that guy, his music, and his noms.) Fun times.

So here we are, post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas. Lots of activity in the backyard, bird-wise. In the span of a week, we saw a pair of cardinals (camera battery was dead, so no pics), a Gila woodpecker, a Harris hawk, and numerous quail, doves, and sparrows. And a gorgeous rainbow across the Catalinas.

This Harris hawk perched on a tree behind our back wall. Hope he’s not looking for tasty little dogs:

We watched this woodpecker hop all over a palm tree in our backyard.

And after some blustery weather (which has long since moved on), a delicate rainbow: